The invention concerns a combination of a piston engine and an electrical generator, as used for combined heat and power plants and other stationary or mobile current and heat generators, for example, also for so-called range extenders in electrically driven vehicles.
Such motor-generator combinations are already known in many variants. DE 295 13 958 describes the classic design of such units, in which the motor and generator are independent machines and connected to each other by a clutch. DE 10 2005 061 165 A1, DE 4408 719 C1, DE 103 39 564 A1, and a number of other inventions are designed in this way, so that both machines have their own housing and bearings of their rotating elements.
In other invention proposals, for example, vehicle flywheels are described with incorporated clutches and electric machines (DE 197 04786 C1, DE 101 52 748 A1) or special gear mechanisms are arranged between the motor and the generator, in order to alter the transmission ratios (DE 10 2008 017 142 A1).
In other known variants, the motor-generator unit is held in a housing filled on all sides with water (DE 9405 466) or specially configured housings of the unit are described (DE 3511 123 C2).